Taylor’s big comeback
Why has the singer been hiding out?
The blueprint was set. In late 2015, Taylor Swift watched as her close pal Ed Sheeran made the conscious decision to disappear from public life for a while. Despite his six Grammy nods and two smash albums, he felt his career was stalling.
“Everything I did, I got a very lukewarm reaction,” he recently explained. “I was like, ‘Here’s a new song.’ And people were like, ‘Ah, great.’” Taking many months off to travel around New Zealand and the rest of the world did the trick – and Taylor clearly took note.
Fresh from a rough 2016 that saw her endure messy break-ups with chart-topper Calvin Harris and TheNight
Manager actor Tom Hiddleston, plus a very public feud with Kanye and Kim Kardashian West, the usually fame-loving pop star decided to go dark.
Besides a pre-Super Bowl performance on February 4, the 27-year-old hasn’t been seen in public since January. She stepped away from her 101 million Instagram followers as well, with a May 3 plug for her friends’ band Haim her
first post in more than two months.
“Taylor was trying to stay out of the media,” a recordcompany insider reveals to
Woman’sDay, adding that the 10-time Grammy winner’s plan was to shirk the limelight until she was ready to promote her sixth studio album.
But now she’s preparing for her big return. “Taylor’s been quietly recording new music for a couple of months,” reports a source close to the singer, who adds that she’s aiming to release the album before November.
That time last year, Taylor’s only aim was to avoid attention. Still reeling from her three-
month whirlwind romance with
Kong star Tom, the hit-maker began crafting ways to avoid fans and photographers, uncharacteristically hiding her face as she departed and returned to her $30 million New York penthouse.
When it came time for her and Zayn Malik to film a video for their duet “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” – the single they wrote for the film FiftyShades
Darker – she had her private jet fly to London in the early hours of January 8. After an all-day shoot, she went straight to the plane at 2am and left town.
Greatescape
Yet the star’s most successful strategy was going off-grid. The singer – who has two homes in Nashville and a $35 million estate in Beverly Hills – started hiding out at pal Blake Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds’ place in upstate New York. Our insider says, “She spent a lot of time there – sometimes a few days a week.”
Taylor used the break to brush up on a few life skills. After publicly confessing she’d like “to be able to save somebody if they’re drowning” and become “a well-rounded person who can make a good drink”, she followed through on at least one of her goals.
“She can definitely make a drink,” the close source tells, adding that whiskey-based Old Fashioned cocktails are her favourite.
The “Out of the Woods” singer also busied herself with family time – helping her younger brother Austin “get his acting career off the ground” with a role in Ben Affleck’s drama LivebyNight – and some well-deserved relaxation.
“Other than doing that single with Zayn, she took some much-needed time off,” says our source. “She was writing a little – she always is – but not in major recording mode.”
That changed in March, the source adds. After months of “jotting down ideas for new music”, Taylor was ready to hit the studio, always at an out-of-the-way location, with as few people involved as possible.
“She’s been recording in secret. She hasn’t been in any
of the bigger studios in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles or London.”
Her come back
We’re told Taylor is sticking to the tried-and-true when it comes to the actual music, however. “She’s continuing down the pop route because
1989 was a huge success and fans really gravitated toward that album,” our source says of the one-time country star, who is bound to fill her new record with digs at her exes Calvin, 33, and Tom, 36.
However, the “Love Story” songstress is also trying some fresh beats. “Taylor’s been experimenting with new sounds this time around and has been inspired by a lot of current music,” says the source. “Everything from pop to hip-hop to rock.”
In the past few weeks, Taylor has been in crunch mode.
“She knows there’s a demand for a new album and has started focusing on making that happen for fans,” our source explains, adding that Taylor is also planning another world tour. “She’s just excited to get back out there.”